A refrigerator is provided with doors which are installed on the front surface of both the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment and are hinged on the vertical side surfaces of the refrigerator. Between the non-hinged side wall of each door a gap is created through which cool air escapes from the compartment. To prevent the leakage of the cool air a leak prevention device is attached to the non-hinged side surface of the shelf which is mounted on the inward-facing surface of the door.
A typical structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 1992-136679 and 1992-187981 as illustrated in FIGS. 7,8 and 9.
Numerals 123,124 represent doors which are attached to the vertical side surfaces of the refrigerator in order to close the opening of the compartment 122. The door 124 has a cool air leak prevention device 128 mounted on a non-hinged side wall of shelf 135. A spring 129 is interconnected between the shelf 135 and the leak prevention device 128. A hinge 127 is located on the non-hinged side wall of the shelf 135 so that the leak prevention device 128 moves between the position shown in FIG. 7 and that shown in FIG. 8 (or FIG. 9). When the door 124 is opened the leak prevention device 128 is in the folded position as shown in FIG. 7 due to the resilient force of the spring 129.
As the door 124 is closed, a groove 128A formed in the upper and lower ends of the leak prevention device 128 receives a guide pin 130 which is located on the upper and lower wall of the compartment 122 to cause the devices 128 to pivot clockwise. When the door 124 is completely closed as shown in FIG. 8, the leak prevention device 128 covers the gap formed between the door 124 and the door 123.
However, when door 124 is in the opened position any excess force on the door is directed to the folded leak prevention device 128 which turns the leak prevention device 128 into the covering or unfolded position as shown in FIG. 8 even though the door is still open. That is, the leak prevention device 128 slides past the neutral point of the spring 129 and the leak prevention device 128 is positioned as shown in FIG. 8 but with the door still open. This operation can be seen in the FIG. 9. If the open door 124 with the unfolded leak prevention device 128 is closed, the guide pin 130 can be damaged by the movement of the leak prevention device 128. If the door 124 with the unfolded leak prevention device 128 is closed, after the other door 183, i.e., the door without the leak prevention device 128 has been closed the leak prevention device 128 can be damaged by the door 123.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,098 discloses a structure having the housing part and magnetic securing means which may temporarily solve the above problem.
Further, a gap is created between each end surface of the leak prevention device 128 and the surface having the guide pin 130. Through this gap the cool air escapes from the compartment.